The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Joseph Johnson)
I beg to move,
That
(1) a Message be sent to the Lords requesting that they will be pleased to return the Space Industry Bill [Lords] because the privilege amendment made to the Bill in the Lords was not removed in this House;
(2) when the Bill has been returned by the Lords, it shall be further amended, in Clause 72, by leaving out subsection (2); and
(3) when the Bill has been so further amended, it shall be returned to the Lords, with the Amendments made in this House.
I will not detain the House too long. Owing to an administrative error, the privilege amendment in clause 72(2) was not removed during our deliberations on the Bill. The privilege amendment was inserted in the House of Lords to ensure the provisions contained in the Bill do not infringe the privileges of this House, which is standard procedure.
The motion before us asks the Lords to briefly return the Space Industry Bill to the Commons to allow us to remove the privilege amendment. The amended Bill will then be sent back to the House of Lords, which will consider all the amendments made by the Commons.
I apologise on behalf of the Government that this administrative error occurred, and I hope that hon. and right hon. Members will support the motion.
Question put and agreed to.